Your endgame has lost all its game
by Thane Skysor
Summary: X-23 and Gabby join the Avengers to take on Thanos, the mad titan!


It was full on Kill Time, for the first instant in years. Laura reminded herself for the millionth time that what she was facing was more than ample justification. Of all the enemies who had tried to take her life, this one seemed the least eager.

Yet the most able.

At least Gabby was by her side. But that made it worse. Gabby could die, and if Laura lived through it… No. Laura had to live, so that Gabby could live. Failure to protect her, the single most important person Laura lived for, was a small death in itself.

Gabby wove circles around the Mad Titan, clutching the battered Infinity Gauntlet and shouting insults in the way that only Gabby could. It was a foolish decision to give her the Gauntlet, Laura cursed herself. What if Gabby dropped it? Or worse, put it on?

Thanos had cut straight through her midsection with his sword. Said sword lay broken, but Laura lay broken as well. Her halves were knitting together, as she was forced to play the part of reluctant spectator.

Fine, Laura said to herself. If I can't fight Thanos as per usual, I'll have to fight another way.

"Hey Thanos!" she croaked, coughing debris out of her lungs. "You're a wet chicken!" She'd been going for Gabby-style ferocity, but now she just sounded lame.

"X-23." Thanos didn't even miss a beat. He dodged one of Gabby's swings, cracking the ground as he went. "I have great respect for you. You were born cursed with knowledge yet you wear it well."

"My only curse," gasped Laura, thinking of what Tony Stark had said almost five years prior, "is that miserable old guys always come thinking they can beat me down, break me completely. You're the last in a long line of them. And it's getting annoying."

She stood, starting shakily but regaining composure. SNIKT! Her claws felt as if they were burning hungrily in her fists, waiting for battle.

"You smell like one of those sweet potatoes that they left out in the freezer and then took out only to find that it got freezer burn and then they threw it away with a bunch of bananas and tuna and purple cabbage!" sang Gabby, whirling around Thanos's armored legs. His armor was dented beyond repair, but still he spun around and made another grab.

"Fastball special!" hollered Laura. Get him away from Gabby. Get him away from Gabby.

Gabby swung. Thanos lurched for Laura but the clone was still holding the gauntlet. She had faked it.

Laura dove and wrapped her arms around the legs of the Mad Titan, taking curious sniffs as she went down. Gabby was correct about the potato freezer burn part (you would know, Gabby, you were the one who left the sweet potato in the freezer last Thanksgiving) but the rest she was exaggerating. Much stronger was the coppery scent of the blood. Her blood mixed with Thanos's blood.

"I would be honored," Thanos rumbled as he pinched Laura's claws between thumb and forefinger, "to call you daughter."

"You may have snapped Logan," Laura growled, "but that doesn't mean you get to replace him."

"Power." mumbled Thanos. Laura yanked her claws out of his grasp and plunged them into his stomach. Thanos closed his hand around her waist and pulled her out. "Beauty. The new Gamora."

He dropped her. And Laura didn't take long to see the reason why.

Gabby stabbed her single claw into Thanos's knee with a wordless cry.

"Go!" Laura screamed. "Run!" Of all the stupid things!

Thanos pitched forward, but caught himself with sturdy purple arms. Gabby launched herself onto his back, stabbing and raking. With a heave and a scream, Thanos threw her off. She clung obstinately to the gauntlet and rolled out of sight as Laura dragged Thanos farther and farther from the Gauntlet.

Thanos pushed himself up. Laura beat him by a second, wrapping her legs around his neck. Go for the head, she remembered, and stabbed into Thanos's bald purple head.

"We are similar." Thanos asserted calmly, staggering but not quite falling. The Titan removed Laura easily, literally yanking her from his head. "From a young age, Death has been a constant companion. It is she who is connecting us now."

Laura remembered losing both of her foot claws to Corvus Glaive. How far did the healing factor extend?

SNIKT!

SNIKT!

Screaming a desperate war cry, she kicked both legs into Thanos's heart. He did not drop her. He did not pull her out, either.

"You need a father!" Thanos roared. "I can show you a better world!"

Laura grit her teeth and pushed harder. "And I," she panted, "can show you a whole world of pain. The pain I felt, when you took Megan. When you took Jonathan, and Warren, and Daken." She was knee-deep into Thanos's chest now. Thanos pinched her neck and she choked and spat on his purple hand.

A girl's scream split the air.

A blinding flash, and suddenly Laura was knee-deep in not flesh and skin, but rapidly dispersing dust.

The Infinity Gauntlet scythed through the black.

A wicked smile formed on Gabby's triumphant face.


End file.
